RFK Jr. went on national TV and spouted egregious, dangerous falsehoods about vaccines. As a parent and infectious diseases doctor, I couldn't stay silent. @FoxNews might not fact-check him, but I will. I've reviewed the trials. I've catalogued them. I have receipts. 🧵
1/ Tucker Carlson: “Do you think overall the COVID vaccine killed more people than it saved?”
RFK Jr: “The truth is, I don’t know.”
This is outrageous.
I do know.
The answer is: unequivocally no. 🧵
RFK Jr. is misrepresenting a landmark Danish study that followed 1.2 million children over 24 years. The study found no link between aluminum in vaccines and autism or neurodevelopmental harm. Let’s fact-check his claims - using actual data. 🧵
It's ridiculous this was even necessary.
The Annals of Internal Medicine has rejected HHS Secretary RFK Jr's demand to retract the Danish vaccine study of 1.2 million children, finding 'no evidence of scientific misconduct.' (1/2)
reuters.com/business/healt…"
So the defense of RFK Jr gutting vaccine expertise is… a culture war rant about gender care? That’s not a counterargument, it’s a deflection. Public health policy should be debated on evidence, not on whatever wedge issue you think will rile up the crowd.
Pfizer’s COVID data isn’t hidden. It’s been reviewed by FDA, published in peer-reviewed journals, analyzed worldwide, and tracked in millions of people through real-world safety and effectiveness studies. Pretending otherwise is gaslighting, not “gold standard science.”
The claim that mRNA vaccine technology poses more risk than benefits is simply false.
What poses risk is abandoning the most adaptable, scalable vaccine platform we’ve ever had.
Halting future development undermines pandemic preparedness at a time when we can least afford it.
RFK JR: After reviewing the science… HHS has determined that mRNA technology poses more risk than benefits for these respiratory viruses. That’s why BARDA has begun the process of terminating these 22 contracts..
So the theory is that CDC, FDA, NIH, DoD, EMA, ECDC, WHO, MHRA (UK), Health Canada, TGA (Australia), PMDA (Japan), Paul-Ehrlich-Institut (Germany), ANSM (France), Swissmedic (Switzerland), and regulators across Asia, along with NEJM, JAMA, Lancet, BMJ, Nature Medicine, Science,
CDC data: over 1.2 million Americans have died from COVID
I personally cared for - and lost - over a hundred of them.
For the Secretary of Health to say "I don't know how many died" is outrageous. The loss is real. And denying it dishonors every family that lived through it.
WARNER: Do you accept the fact that 1 million Americans died from covid?
RFK Jr: I don't know how many died
WARNER: You're the secretary of health and human services. You don't have any idea how many Americans died from covid?
RFK Jr: I don't think anybody knows that because
I still don’t think people understand how well the vaccines *really* work. So let me try to explain.
I spend most of my time treating patients admitted to the hospital with various infections. My colleagues & I are called to see nearly every hospitalized covid patient.🧵
The idea that mRNA vaccines "failed" because they didn't block all respiratory infections reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of immunology.
No vaccine for flu, RSV, or COVID has ever done that. The goal is preventing severe disease, and mRNA vaccines delivered.
They saved
